Worthy Blogs & Websites

So you’re among people streaming out of the bars at closing time on Labor Day weekend and, being a considerate and insightful person, decide it’s a prime opportunity to yell obscenities at the cops driving by. Perhaps not the wisest idea in the world but you might simply be exercising your First Amendment rights. At […]

For the second year in a row, I regret my tradition of limiting my list of books of the year to those actually published during the year. As a result, I’ve modified a once or twice used category to lead off this year’s list. Otherwise, my list wouldn’t include the best book I read this […]

Want to know the value of album cover art? Take a look at the cover of the Grand Funk album released on December 29, 1969. The blistering red. The afro-haired drummer. The (then) cool looking bass player. The intensity of the lead guitarist. It makes clear that the music they’re generating is causing the album […]

Iris Chang seemed to have it all: bestselling and critically acclaimed author at age 29, successful and sought after public speaker, attractive and motivated woman, married for more than 10 years and with a young child, and considered by many as among America’s best young historians. Yet in November 2004, Chang committed suicide at age […]

To tell you the truth, for a significant part of 2008 I wondered if there was going to be a best of music post this year. And it wasn’t for lack of listening. I explored a wide range of new releases: Jack Johnson’s Sleep Through the Static, Counting Crows’ Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings, Mudcrutch, […]

How often do you recommend books to others, and who do you recommend them to? Do you only recommend books to your “reading friends” or to anyone you think might find the book interesting? What does it take for a book to make it to your ‘recommendation’ list?